My Personal Journey To Lose Weight
Could Patellar Tendon Surgery End My Workouts? (WARNING VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES!!)
It is kind of late and I just wanted to write a quick update on my pursuit for building the right workout for my fat loss journey. Tonight I wanted to do a little more research for low-impact exercises for my knees.
Back in 2001 I had a terrible rupture to my right patellar tendon. The end result was repair surgery that was performed by one of the best surgeons in NJ where I had this unfortunate encounter.
The way this all happend was when I was looking for a house in West Orange, NJ I slipped a a toy truck left on top of the stairs by the sellers son. The end result was me falling all the way down the stairs with my leg twisted and to this day I can remember the loud pop it made.
Yes it was painful and yes I knew I was in trouble immediately followed by not being able to move my leg. I guess that makes since as a result of your pattelar tendon being responsible for leg movement.
In case your unfamiliar with this kind of injury and surgery I borrowed some pics and information from www.arthroscopy.com to show you. They are a bit graphic but this is the only way I can show you what I went through.
INJURY
When the patellar tendon ruptures, the patella loses its anchoring support to the tibia. Without this anchoring effect of the intact patella tendon, the patella tends to move superiorly (towards the hip) as the quadriceps muscle contracts. Without the intact patella tendon, the patient is unable to straighten the knee. If a rupture of the patella tendon occurs, and the patient tries to stand up, the knee will usually buckle and give way because the body is no longer able to hold the knee in a position of extension (straight).
DIAGNOSIS
The examination consists of palpating the patellar tendon and the patella. Usually, when the tendon ruptures, the patella moves upwards on the thigh. At the same time, the hole between the ends of the ruptured tendon is palpable on the front of the knee. X-rays of the knee reveal the abnormal position of the patella, indicating a rupture of the patella tendon.
Figure 2: Lateral View of Ruptured Patellar Tendon.
When x-rays are taken, the patella (kneecap), is seen to move away from the knee and towards the mid thigh (Figure 2) when compared to a normal knee x-ray (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Lateral View of Normal Knee with Intact Patellar Tendon.
WARNING VERY GRAPHIC PICTURES!
Click on the links to view photos but remember these are medical photos and contain pictures that might not be suggestible for everyone.
TREATMENT
This is an injury that must be treated surgically. Since the tendon is outside of the joint, it cannot be repaired arthroscopically. Usually, the repair is done as an outpatient or overnight stay.
Figure 4: Surgical View of Ruptured Patellar Tendon (Yellow Circle).
An incision is made on the front of the knee, overlaying the tendon. The site of the tendon rupture is identified.
The tendon ends are retracted to allow inspection of the underlying joint and femur.
Figure 6: Surgical View of Repaired Patellar Tendon (Yellow Circle) with Sutures Visible.
The tendon ends are identified and then sewn together. Afterwards, a cast or brace is often used to protect the repair. The length of time required for casting or bracing is usually a minimum of 6 weeks followed by several weeks of rehabilitation.—
So you can see by the illustration that my injury was serious and I am lucky that I am back in action and not limping. My strength in that knee is not 100% but I am now more focused on building back my strength.
I have a full range of motion thank God and can run but psychologically I am a little fearful of hurting it again. That is just a mental thing I know but it is a little fear thing I deal with that I admit I have now. I am often thinking like man it would suck to hurt that leg again!
So tonight luckily I ran into a few low impact workout routines that I will try out and add to my list after testing them out. I will share them soon but this post was just a quick update of my research on finding the right fat loss workout for me.
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about 2 months ago
No it will not end workouts. the two major upper body push/pull exercises are bench press and lat pull downs. Additional small muscle group exercises in addition add some variety. These include curls, triceps extensions, dumbbell work on the shoulders. All these are while sitting on laying on back. As for running, I dont recommend anyway. As humans we have retained two legacy traits from our caveman days: One is the obvious pesky ability to retain body fat, and the other is virtually zero evolutionary enhancement to with stand hard ground impact. Our feet, knees and hip joints are basically as they were when all we ran on was soft sand and grassy prairies. Cycling, walking, and some leg gym work is good. Adjust as necessary if any knee injury exists.
about 2 months ago
Hi Bret,
I agree with you 100% on our overwhelming low tolerance to with stand a hard ground impact. That is why I am more focused right now on strength building exercises mixed with low impact quality movements. I feel if I stick to that kind of physical focus then I limit my chances of injury and long term pain.